Merchants Go on Offense in Digital Payments - PaymentsViews.com (Bryan Derman) - "We are now seeing that economic leverage gradually imposed on the rest of the payment value chain (short-circuiting network fees through negotiated, bilateral interchange) in a way that more fully reflects their importance of major retailers in the dominant consumer sector of the U.S. economy."

Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement - "Given the economic outlook, and recognizing the time it takes for policy actions to affect future economic outcomes, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1/4 to 1/2 percent."

Six Things to Know About Chip Cards as You Shop for the Holidays - “It’s an important holiday season for us and the industry,” said Jimm Bell, senior vice president and director of card services for Fifth Third Bank. “We’ll have more chip cards than ever before, and it will be a good time to check how we’re all doing.”

Chip Credit Cards Give Retailers Another Grievance Against Banks - New York Times - "Retailers complain that they have spent billions of dollars upgrading their payment terminals to accommodate a system that cuts down only on the fraud shouldered by banks, not merchants. Chip and PIN, long the standard in Europe, would help retailers verify not just the card, but the person using it."

a16z Podcast: Blockchain vs./and Bitcoin - A16Z - "Clearly many large business players are paying attention and trying to get ahead of disruption, by asking themselves exactly what their bitcoin/blockchain strategy is. Adam Ludwin shares what’s happening here from his perspective as founder of Chain, an enterprise blockchain platform that partners with financial institutions to help them apply the technology to their markets."

Western Union Offers New Global Money Transfer Service on WeChat - “Given the proliferation of social media around the world, we are expanding our activities in this exciting area. It only makes sense to include the WeChat platform as part of the company’s innovative digital money transfer capabilities. By teaming with WeChat and deploying the WU Connect platform to its U.S. users, Western Union is offering yet another new method for consumers to move money worldwide."

Global Payments Announces Support for Apple Pay in Canada - “Following successful enablement in the U.S. and the UK, Global Payments is pleased to be one of the first providers in Canada to offer merchants the exciting opportunity to accept Apple Pay,” said Frank T. Young, SVP, Global Product and Innovation.

Align Commerce Closes $12.5 Million Series A Round Led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) - "For far too long the cost and complications of existing payment systems have hindered startups and SMBs from fully capitalizing on global trade,” said Marwan Forzley, CEO of Align Commerce. “The Align Commerce platform cuts through time-consuming red tape and excessive fees that have unnecessarily burdened users. Existing systems have seen little innovation in the face of game-changing new technologies, and the entire experience is overdue for a radically different approach.”

First Data and NCR Sign Strategic Commercial Agreement - "First Data will be a preferred provider of cybersecurity and payment processing solutions to NCR’s customers in the grocery, petroleum and convenience store industries. NCR will be a preferred provider of ATM hardware and services to First Data’s client base of more than 4,000 financial institutions. The two industry leaders will also pursue co-development of integrated commerce technology solutions for U.S. merchant clients."

Synchrony Financial Announces Completion of Separation from GE - “This is an historic day for Synchrony Financial,” stated Margaret Keane, president and CEO of Synchrony Financial. “Today we launch the next stage in our company’s future – pursuing a long-term strategy focused on Synchrony’s business objectives as a stand-alone company. I am very proud of our employees, who have prepared us for this day, while continuing to serve our partners and customers and to grow our business.”

This weekend your editor will be reading former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's new book about the financial crisis: The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath. From the description: "Rich with detail of the decision-making process in Washington and indelible portraits of the major players, The Courage to Act recounts and explains the worst financial crisis and economic slump in America since the Great Depression, providing an insider’s account of the policy response."

Using Apple Pay at Starbucks, KFC and Chili’s - New York Times - "Whether Apple can use mobile payments to lock people into its product ecosystem remains to be seen. The number of people who use devices for mobile payments is growing fast, but it’s still tiny."

Apple Pay Now Available on the Fly Delta App - "Our Fly Delta app has come a long way since it was first introduced in 2010. More than 18 million customers have now downloaded the Fly Delta app and we are excited to be the first U.S. based airline to allow our customers to book and pay for their tickets with Apple Pay. By providing a way to pay for flights with just the touch of a fingertip, Delta continues to optimize our robust mobile channels and provide an easy-to-use and seamless digital experience for our customers," said Rhonda Crawford, Vice President - eCommerce.

Join over 8,500 payments professionals who have attended a Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp!

Glenbrook's fall season of payments education kicks off in October with two sessions of our Payments Boot Camp - one in the San Francisco Bay Area on October 13-14 and the other in New York City on October 20-21. Glenbrook's Russ Jones is now leading this important payments education curriculum - he'd love to meet you at one of these sessions. Contact Russ directly if you have any questions.

On the Web

First Data to Raise Up to $3.68 Billion in IPO - Wall St. Journal - "Payment-processing giant First Data Corp. on Thursday said it would raise up to $3.68 billion in its upcoming initial public offering, marking the biggest U.S. listing this year."

Chips, Dips and Tips: 5 Potential Problems With New Credit Cards - NBC News - "Some people are experiencing a 20 second wait times with these chips," said Avivah Litan, vice president and analyst at Gartner Research. "We're a more rushed society than anyone else. So me, I'm going to be a little mad when I have to wait longer at checkout. You have to wait until the very end to get your card."

The problem with America’s new credit card technology - MarketWatch - "While other countries combine the smart chip-equipped cards with a personal identification number, akin to the way we access bank accounts using debit cards and PINs, U.S. banks are issuing chip cards without the code functionality."

Bank Bets Americans Can Remember Another PIN - Wall St. Journal - "First Niagara Financial Group Inc. said on Wednesday that it is rolling out new chip-enabled credit and debit cards that require customers to enter a personal identification number instead of a signature."

Twitter Makes ‘Buy’ Button Widely Available - New York Times - "A store that is a customer of Demandware, Bigcommerce, or Shopify can use the software to tweet out a link to a product that will show up with a buy button."

Blockchains and Banks - Medium (David Galbraith) - "These replace banking infrastructure providers with software that doesn’t need to be run by a separate entity (e.g. SWIFT), and lower internal costs but still keep the requirement for trusted entities (banks themselves)."

SEB: Blockchain Could Make Banks 'Radically More Efficient' - CoinDesk - "Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), a Stockholm-based financial services firm with 1.7tn SEK ($202bn) in assets under management, announced yesterday that it was among 13 major banks that had joined the top-secret work underway at R3CEV."

American Express Cards® Now Accepted at Sam’s Club - " In conjunction with the launch of Card acceptance, American Express is providing a special offer to eligible Card Members for use at Sam’s Club locations from October 1-31. Card Members can receive a one-time $25 statement credit after they use an enrolled, eligible American Express Card to spend $45 or more on a new Sam’s Club membership in-store."

Moneris expands portfolio of EMV®-capable solutions to United States - “Our proven track record gives merchants the peace of mind of knowing that they are working with a trusted and reliable EMV processor,” said Chris Lee, president, North American strategic partnerships and emerging markets. “We manage every aspect of the EMV migration and integration process, from design and testing, to certification and implementation, making the switch to EMV a seamless transition for merchants.”

4 trends in fintech startups - O'Reilly Radar - "It’s hard for incumbents to innovate existing businesses in house, and this is where startups thrive: testing new business models and pushing the limits of technology unencumbered by regulations or corporate baggage. Hackathons and startup competitions are where innovative ideas are tested."

On the Wires:

MasterCard Start Path to Build the Future of Commerce with Startups - “Start Path thoughtfully connects the right partners with the right startups to build the future of commerce together,” said Stephane Wyper, Global Lead of MasterCard Start Path. “And now with our global expansion, we will be able to target a broader range of startups and help them achieve success."

FLEETCOR Announces New Executive Appointments to its Comdata Business Units - “We’re delighted to welcome Greg and Kurt to the Comdata and FLEETCOR management team,” said Ron Clarke, Chairman and CEO of FLEETCOR. “Each brings successful general management experience to their new roles. We expect these executive additions will help accelerate the implementation of our Comdata growth plans.”

Samsung Introduces New Phones and Mobile Payment System - New York Times - "To win over consumers, Samsung is promoting the security features of Samsung Pay. It uses a technology developed by credit card companies called tokenization, which does not require transmitting a person’s credit card numbers when paying for things. (Both Android Pay and Apple Pay use this technology as well.)"

Salesforce Adds E-Commerce To Its Community Cloud - TechCrunch - "By introducing the ability to make purchases directly from those communities, Mike Stone, the senior vice president of marketing for Salesforce Community Cloud, said the company is enabling “a whole new evolution of social commerce.”"

Do You Have Change for a Bowie? The Advent of Artisanal Cash - New York Times - "As Bitcoin, PayPal and other electronic forms of payment grow in popularity in the global economy, cash in a growing number of places — not only Bristol and Brixton, but also Amsterdam; Ithaca, N.Y.; and elsewhere — is becoming quite literally an artisanal object."

Send and Receive Money with PayPal through BBM – Q&A with PayPal - Inside Blackberry - "BBM and PayPal have teamed up to make sending and receiving money through your BBM Chats even easier. Just connect your PayPal account to your BBM. Once your BBM contacts do the same, you can start sending and receiving money – it’s that simple."

- TechCrunch - "The purchase gives Boku access to all four of the major mobile carriers in Italy — Telecom Italia Mobile, Vodafone, Wind, and 3 (Hutchinson) — covering more than 87 million mobile subscriptions."

Samsung Announces Launch Dates for Groundbreaking Mobile Payment Service: Samsung Pay - "Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., unveiled today that Samsung Pay, a secure and easy-to-use mobile payment service that can be used to make purchases nearly everywhere cards are accepted, will launch in Korea on August 20 and in the U.S. on September 28. Samsung plans to roll out the service in the U.K., Spain and China, with partners to be named in each market."

Synchrony Financial Enables Private Label Credit Card Benefits Through Samsung Pay - “We continue to make our cards valuable to consumers, retailers and merchants and are pleased to securely offer the benefits of our private label credit cards through Samsung Pay,” said Margaret Keane, president and CEO of Synchrony Financial. “Through our ongoing innovation and strategic partnerships, we have developed a mobile platform that we can rapidly integrate with providers’ wallets while preserving the value of Synchrony Bank’s private label credit cards and patented Dual Cards for whichever mobile wallet our partners and customers choose.”

Samsung Joins the Visa Digital Enablement Program - “Samsung Pay is now one more way consumers can make secure payments based on tokens -- technology that is quickly becoming the standard for safe mobile payments,” said Jim McCarthy, Executive Vice President of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Visa. “Similar to how Samsung Pay is reaching mass merchant acceptance on day one, VDEP is making it easy and cost-effective for payment providers, financial institutions and technology companies like Samsung to take full advantage of token technology and bring secure mobile payments to consumers everywhere.”

Why Fintech Is One of the Most Promising Industries of 2015 - Inc. (Maria Aspan) - "WePay is one of many finance-oriented startups dominating the rankings: From the financial services category alone, four are in the top 20 and 27 on the list overall, with a combined $850.7 million in 2014 revenue."

Visa Exploring Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology - NewsBTC - “India will soon have teams that will jointly work with our two research labs in US and Singapore in studying the many aspects of blockchain,” said Visa executive vice president of technology Rajat Taneja.

Mobile wallet fraud set to rise in India: Deloitte - Economic Times - "About 17 million Indians use mobile money platforms offered by banks. While these are promising numbers that indicate economic development, users of mobile money platforms need to be cognizant of the fraud risks associated with these transactions," said Rohit Mahajan, senior director and head, forensic, financial advisory, Deloitte India.

European Issuers Can Thrive in a Tokenisation-Enabled Ecosystem - “Another positive indicator for m-payments’ rise in Europe is the success of existing mobile payment programs,” said John Goodale, group executive, product and market development, TSYS International. “The proliferation of alternative payment services in Europe in recent years suggests a growing consumer interest in and demand for such alternatives.”

MasterCard exec: Why the move to chip-cards is so important - Fortune - "Carolyn Balfany, a 28-year veteran of MasterCard, is the company’s SVP of U.S. product delivery for EMV, a lengthy way of saying that she’s quarterbacking the effort to bring these chip cards to MasterCard’s American cardholders."

Vodacom reports 7.8M m-pesa users - Mobile World Live - "South African operator Vodacom said customer numbers for m-pesa in its international operations grew by 18 per cent year-on-year, although there has been a net decline of 200,000 over the last three months."

On the Wires:

Wells Fargo Launches New Innovation Group - "Wells Fargo today announced the formation of a new Innovation Group, which will work in partnership with its major businesses to meet evolving customer needs and stay ahead of the shifting competitive landscape. Steve Ellis, who had served as the head of Wholesale Services, has been named the leader of the new group."

MasterCard Opens its Digital Security Lab to Customers - “The MasterCard DigiSec Lab represents our collective efforts to maximize product innovation and security investments,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of Enterprise Security Solutions at MasterCard. “While payments have never been safer, criminals have never been smarter. We’ve now opened the lab to our customers as part of an ongoing commitment to share insights, solutions and best practices to deliver the highest levels of security.”

Citi Mobile Challenge Launches in Asia Pacific - "Citi Mobile Challenge is a next-generation accelerator that combines a virtual hackathon with an incubator, a worldwide network of FinTech experts and Citi’s unparalleled global sponsors and clients to discover solutions across more than 100 markets."

Uber Taps Its Global Payments Partner, Adyen, to Expand into Morocco - “Adyen continues to be a key strategic partner in addressing the many payments-related challenges of rapid international expansion,” said Meryem Belqziz, Uber Casablanca General Manager. “Their transparent philosophy, data-driven approach, and technical agility have made the partnership a natural fit.”

The Check’s Still in the Mail: Why Collections Isn’t Going Paperless - FICO Blog - "In a recent BillingTree webinar, which looked at some of the payment processing trends revealed in its third annual Collection Agency Operations and Technology Survey, it was clear that paper payments such as paper checks, money orders, demand drafts and more, are still a key issue for the collections market."

Fiserv Enhances Chip Card Production Capabilities to Support Migration to EMV Chip Cards - “As a leader in payments, fraud mitigation and card production, Fiserv is committed to supporting financial institutions as they migrate to EMV,” said Jorge Diaz, president, Output Solutions, Fiserv. “Adding milling and embedding capabilities to our already sophisticated facilities is a strategic move that enables Fiserv to deliver a one-stop-shop EMV solution."

Sweden Goes Contactless with ICA Banken Powered by Oberthur Technologies - “ICA Banken believes that contactless payments will play an important role in the future of payments and we constantly strive to make our customers' lives easier with fast and convenient payments within ICA. We chose to extend our partnership with Oberthur Technologies for this important launch thanks to OT´s technical knowledge and expertise in the field,” said Marie Halling, CEO of ICA Banken.

E-commerce Fraud, Data, and EMV’s Impact on CNP Losses - PaymentsViews.com (George Peabody) - "This discussion with Tom Donlea, Director, e-Comm/Retail Practice at Whitepages, looks at how the data is provided to the merchant, the challenge of data sourcing in international markets, the care and control of PII, and what the US EMV roll-out could mean for CNP fraud."

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Security Freeze - Krebs on Security - "Even if you haven’t noticed (or maybe you just haven’t actually received a breach notice), I’m here to tell you that if you’re an American, your basic personal data is already for sale. What follows is a primer on what you can do to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft as a result of all this data (s)pillage."

Westpac, ANZ trial Ripple payments, but big four reluctant on bitcoin - Financial Review (Australia) - "Executives at big four banking rivals are still adopting a more cautious stance on the future acceptance of bitcoin in the mainstream economy, pointing to the fact that it remains unregulated and fraught with risks related to money laundering."

Remittances at the Click of a Smartphone Button - New York Times - "While the likes of Western Union have offered international money transfers for decades, new tech start-ups and traditional telecom operators are taking advantage of the rapid rise of smartphones in many emerging economies to reduce the barriers — and costs — of sending cash overseas."

Why financial firms are investigating bitcoin tech - CNBC - "The blockchain is the financial challenge of our time," said Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, on Tuesday at the Exponential Finance Conference hosted by CNBC and Singularity University. "It is going to change the way that our financial world operates."

On the Wires:

Apple Pay Giving Shoppers Even More Ways to Pay - "Apple Pay will also give shoppers more ways to pay in the US, expanding merchant acceptance to over one million locations next month and bringing support for Discover this fall. With this addition, Apple Pay will accept credit and debit cards across all major card networks, issued by the most popular banks, representing 98 percent of all credit card purchase volume in the US."

U.S. Bank Gives Customers Access to Free Credit Score - “Knowing your score is important, but even more importantly, we want customers to understand how choices they make can affect their score in the future,” said Andrew Cecere, chief operating officer for U.S. Bank. “Having a good credit score makes it easier to take out a loan, rent an apartment or make a major purchase with the best possible terms. Offering CreditView through TransUnion helps our customers make wise choices, and is consistent with U.S. Bank’s broader efforts to promote personal financial responsibility.”

TSYS Enhances Card Production in the Migration to Chip Cards - “We have worked with our U.S. clients since last year as they prepare to issue chip cards in 2015, and it was clear to us early on that we could create an improved process,” said Bob Kellum, group executive of Output Services, TSYS. “This solution lets our issuers focus more on strategy and execution and less on managing new operational challenges. We have also included Chip Card on Demand in TSYS Card Shop to create custom chip cards.”

Sympathy for the Biller – the Unsung Masters of Payments Complexity - PaymentsViews.com (Erin McCune) - "As billers expand their payment acceptance offerings to include in-person transactions, mobile payments, as well as one time and recurring payments online, the back office effort to accurately apply payments to consumer accounts and reconcile incoming bank deposits will demand more time, IT resources, and payments expertise. Billers are increasingly seeking solutions that minimize this data-handling overhead."

Live Gamer Re-Launches as Emergent Payments - "There is a significant opportunity for digital businesses in emerging markets -- which closely mirrors the success of the digital gaming industry in being able to monetize on a global basis," said Andrew Schneider, Co-Founder and President, Emergent Payments. "Seizing this opportunity, however, is often more complicated than it seems..."

Oink Introduces Mobile Peer-to-Peer Payments - “The mobile peer-to-peer market is expected to reach $86Bn in the US as it solves a real pain point for consumers,” said Dr. Jo Webber, CEO and founder of Oink. “The 11 to 21 year-old audience needed a more modern banking solution, with real-time access and control, and we have delivered it.”

Intuit: Chip Cards Coming: How Small Businesses Can Prepare - “The biggest barriers for small businesses to become EMV-compliant are cost and lack of time or resources required to research terminals,” said Eric Dunn, Intuit's senior vice president for payments and commerce solutions. “We want them to know we’re beside them on this journey to a more secure payments infrastructure, and are providing an affordable solution as well as equipping them with resources to ease any burdens.”

Google Moves Its Corporate Applications to the Internet - Wall St. Journal - "Using authentication, authorization and encryption, the model grants employees fine-grained access to different enterprise resources, wrote Google’s Rory Ward and Betsy Beyer in a paper published in December."

Early Warning and NCR to Enable Cross-Institution Real-time Good Funds Network - "Early Warning’s good funds network will facilitate communication among financial institutions, giving a participating depositing bank a real-time guarantee for check and ACH transactions and will support both credit push and debit models. As a result, customers will receive faster availability of funds on deposited items and instant notification of items presented for deposit – all based on real-time activity."

Stratos Unveils Digital Card Issuance Platform at Finovate - “Stratos is reinventing the wallet. Just as consumers have migrated their music collections into digital formats such as iTunes, so too are cardholders now compressing what goes into their wallet,” said Thiago Olson, co-founder and CEO of Stratos.

Faster Now Faster? - PaymentsViews.com (Carol Coye Benson) - "Today I want to express my enthusiasm about these developments, beam encouragement at the industry, and advocate for a few additional points that I think are important in the design phase."

MasterCard’s New Chief Commercial Officer Taking Digital Payment Tech Beyond Lab - Wall St. Journal - "Betty DeVita, former president of MasterCard Canada, starts Tuesday, charged with commercializing ideas that come out of MasterCard Labs, a technology research group started in 2010. Among her first priorities will be Qkr, a payments technology that lets consumers place orders and pay bills with a MasterPass digital wallet."

On the Wires:

Widespread UK launch of V.me by Visa - Kevin Jenkins, managing director UK & Ireland at Visa Europe commented: “The UK is the European leader of online commerce with a valuable and diverse range of companies that conduct business online. This announcement is a further proof point of our ability to innovate, building on our market success in contactless. We’re excited to be working with our member banks and many of the UK’s leading retailers to do this and look forward to new partners coming on board.”

MasterCard Supports U.S. Small Businesses Making Big Shifts to Chip Cards - “Chip cards all but eliminate counterfeit fraud. We know this because we’ve seen significant fraud reductions in all 80+ countries where EMV has been implemented,” said Carolyn Balfany, senior vice president of Product Delivery – EMV, MasterCard. “The power of chip is realized as more cards and terminals are enabled and used. The goal isn’t to move card fraud around the system. The goal is to drive card fraud out of the U.S. – benefitting banks, merchants and, most importantly, consumers.”

Boku Launches on Google Play in the Middle East“By connecting with Boku, Zain KSA brings tremendous value to their subscribers who want a trusted and seamless way to purchase their favorite Google Play content,” said Boku CEO Jon Prideaux. “Given our leading market position, Boku is well positioned to extend this partnership to other carriers across the globe. The opportunities for carriers are truly limitless when a company with Boku’s global footprint integrates with one of the world’s most popular app stores.”

In Code We Trust - New York Times Magazine - "One way to understand this chaos is to see that power is shifting. The authority to create, move and define money — once confined to central banks and treasury departments — is being dispersed to an odd mix of entrepreneurs, libertarian hackers and old-line banking institutions."

Financial Giants Set Up Tech Hubs in Manhattan - Wall St. Journal - "MasterCard is one of several big-name financial services firms that are opting to set up tech divisions in prime Manhattan real-estate markets outside of their headquarters because many increasingly see themselves more as technology companies."

Online hackathon seeks to build solutions using Aadhaar app interface - Business Standard - "AngelPrime, a seed-stage venture capital fund based in Bengaluru, and Nasscom, in collaboration with UIDAI, will host the first of its kind online 'Aadhaar Application Hackathon' in June this year. The hackathon aims to encourage and promote the development of applications using the Aadhaar application programme interfaces (APIs)."

Bitcoin Could Impact Credit Unions, Report Says - CoinDesk - "...we could see the proliferation of a host of new financial services backed by bitcoin, many of which are directly associated with the core businesses of credit unions today."

Visa Expands Global Technology Research; Hires Senior Scientist to Lead Visa Research Labs - “Digital commerce is rapidly evolving due to the introduction of new technologies. As the world becomes more connected, every device, car, or appliance becomes a place where secure digital commerce can take place,” said Rajat Taneja, Executive Vice President, Technology, Visa Inc. “I am excited to expand our technology research efforts and have Min lead Visa Research Labs. This effort has the potential to shape the way we pay and get paid in the future, and transform the lives of millions of unbanked consumers by finally providing them with access to secure digital commerce.”

MasterCard Named Exclusive Card Processor by Green Dot Bank - Green Dot Chief Operating Officer, Kuan Archer said, "Our processing technology team has been working closely with MasterCard for the past 15 months on the integration of our two technology platforms. While certainly this project has required a significant amount of time and effort, we believe the ultimate end-state of having the most state-of-the-art, high-scale processing platform underpinning our current and future suite of modern banking products and mobile solutions will pay off in terms of our ability to create new, innovative products and services."

How Bitcoin is Disrupting Argentina’s Economy - New York Times Magazine - "Banks everywhere hold money and move it around; they help make it possible for money to function as both a store of value and a medium of exchange. But thanks in large part to their country’s history of financial instability, a small yet growing number of Argentines are now using Bitcoin instead to fill those roles."

How Sony Makes Money Off Apple’s iPhone - Wall St. Journal - "Each one contains two Sony-made image sensors and related parts, which generate revenue of as much as $20 per phone for Sony, analysts say."

On the Wires:

MasterCard Incorporated Reports First-Quarter Financial Results - “We are managing well, despite a mixed economic environment and challenging currency situation,” said Ajay Banga, president and CEO, MasterCard. “The underlying fundamentals of our business remain unchanged, driving our ability to sign new agreements with Citi and Itaú, work with digital giants and expand our support of the merchant community. This, combined with our focus on costs, allowed us to continue to deliver solid results in the first quarter.”

Banking with a Fingerprint: Digital Insight Offers Touch ID to Access Finances - “Touch ID frees consumers from having to enter their username and password in order to access their finances,” said Dan Weis, senior product manager at Digital Insight. “The speed and ease-of-use of Touch ID will provide financial institutions another innovation to offer their customers and members and further help them differentiate in the marketplace.”

Introducing Amazon Business: Everything You Love About Amazon, For Your Business - “We’ve heard from business customers that they love the convenience of shopping online, and want an experience at work that is similar to how they shop at home,” said Prentis Wilson, Vice President of Amazon Business. “Amazon Business delivers a new and expanded marketplace that brings the selection, convenience and value of Amazon to business customers, manufacturers and sellers with the additional selection, features and back-end integration businesses need to save time and money.”

Western Union and U.S. Bank Extend Relationship - Carter Hunt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Western Union U.S., said, “We are pleased to extend our relationship with U.S. Bank, and we remain committed to bringing customers the high level of customer service and innovation they have come to expect from our company.”

Chip-Card Rollout Has Banks, Retailers Scrambling - Wall St. Journal - "Some 575 million of the new cards—representing about three-quarters of U.S. credit cards and about 40% of debit cards—are expected to be in the wallets of American consumers by year-end, making it the biggest rollout of new cards in decades."

Why We Still Use Checkbooks to Pay the Rent - Bloomberg - "Despite the convenience to landlords and tenants of managing lease payments digitally, 70 percent of U.S. renters still pay by check, according to PayLease, another e-rent facilitator."

India Tech Startups: Seven Things That Blew My Mind - Re/code.net (Jason Del Rey) - "You’ll hear more from me in the coming weeks as I document my visit. For now, here’s some of the stuff that surprised this first-time visitor to India’s thriving tech scene."

Raytheon to Plow $1.7 Billion Into New Cyber Venture - Wall St. Journal - "Raytheon Chief Executive Tom Kennedy said the threat of cyberattacks such as the one suffered last year by Target Corp. is increasing as cloud computing and mobile services make companies more vulnerable to costly electronic intrusions by state-sponsored hackers, terrorists, organized crime or insiders."

Bitcoin Vs. Wall Street: A Love-Hate Story - TechCrunch - "Wall Street’s influence can bring bitcoin to the mainstream, and bitcoin can help bankers provide better banking services that are efficient and trustworthy."

On the Wires:

Capital One and Uber Partner to Bring Simplicity and Savings to Customers - "We're thrilled to partner with Capital One, a company that shares our vision of creating elegant, simple solutions to meet important consumer needs," said David Richter, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, Uber. "Together, we'll provide a meaningful combination of savings and convenience to millions of customers."

AICPA Survey: One-in-Four Americans Victimized by Information Security Breaches - “The increase in data breaches affecting personal information has given consumers significant cause to be cautious about their activities, both online and off,” said Ernie Almonte, chair of the AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission. “Data breaches have the potential to seriously affect consumers’ finances and wreak havoc on their credit scores. The good news is that we are seeing Americans taking steps to safeguard their information and reduce their susceptibility to these attacks.”

Protect Your Bubble Improves the Customer Experience with Vindicia CashBox - “At Vindicia, we’re proud to be a part of the way Protect Your Bubble improves the experience of purchasing protection plans for consumers,” said Bryta Schulz, senior vice president of marketing for Vindicia. “CashBox overcomes the billing complexities that can frustrate consumers. Billing processes are more efficient with CashBox, but more importantly, it supports higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention.”

Wal-Mart Treasury Exec: Chip & Signature is ‘Worthless’ - AFP - "During a presentation at the Electronic Transaction Association’s Transact conference in San Francisco last week, Mike Cook, senior vice president and assistant treasurer for Wal-Mart, called signature “worthless as a form of authentication” and criticized the rollout of chip-and-signature cards in the United States."

More Prepaid Debit Cards Come Without Monthly Fees - Wall St. Journal - "A new survey released Monday by Bankrate.com found that prepaid debit cards are carrying fewer fees and offering customers more chances to avoid additional costs that may be tacked onto the account."

FacePay? - TechCrunch - "What if buying something was as easy as Liking it? You’d probably buy a lot more, and buy it through whoever made it so damn simple."

Big Investor Involvement Could Boost Bitcoin - Wall St. Journal - “They are all very interested, but it comes down to having some kind of regulatory clarity as well as to the technology available—whether you have something they feel is trustworthy, whether you have a big enough capital base, whether you have good enough technology...”

Hacking ATMs, Literally - Krebs on Security - "An ATM technician and KrebsOnSecurity reader shared photos of a recent attack in which three would-be robbers went to town on a wall-mounted cash machine with crowbars and hammers."

Brink’s and NetSpend Launch Brink’s Prepaid MasterCard - “Prepaid cards empower those without traditional banking relationships by equipping them with the tools, resources and education to take control of their financial lives and spend responsibly,” said Jeff Feuerstein, group head, U.S. Prepaid, MasterCard. “Access to reputable prepaid offerings from trusted brands such as Brink’s provide cardholders the opportunity to take advantage of all the benefits of electronic payments, including having a secure and convenient means of making purchases, tracking spending, setting budgets and more.”

Trade Group Asks for Delay on Card-Security Plan - Wall St. Journal - "In a letter sent last week to Visa Inc.,MasterCard Inc.,American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services, the Food Marketing Institute said that merchants won’t be ready to meet an October deadline that will shift liability for fraudulent transactions from card-issuing banks to merchants."

Delta Becomes the First U.S. Airline To Offer Alipay Payment and Improve the Ease of Online Booking from China - "This exciting new partnership is one of many Delta initiatives to build the most Chinese-friendly U.S. airline," said Vinay Dube, Delta's senior vice president – Asia Pacific. "As the U.S. and China have agreed to issue multiple-entry visas for up to ten years for short-term business and tourist travel, our partnership with Alipay will give more Chinese consumers the chance to experience traveling in the U.S. with our industry-leading product and service in flight and on the ground."

Now What? Immediate Funds Transfer in the U.S. - PaymentsViews.com (Elizabeth McQuerry) - "How can all these systems be stitched together? Who writes the rules? Where does this leave Same Day ACH? Those are just the first set of questions. There are plenty of others..."

EU Interchange Legislation Sets Course for New Beginnings - MasterCard Beyond the Transaction Blog - "A long and interesting legislative process comes closer to an end this week with the European Parliament formally adopting a new EU Regulation on interchange fees. At MasterCard we believe that, just as in life, from every end comes a new beginning. This case is no different."

Boston calls a snow day on spending - First Data Corp. - "This First Data SpendTrend report examines the economic effect these snow storms have had on Boston and the New England region between January 24 and February 22, 2015."

PayPal Establishes New Security Center - PayPal Forward Blog - "To help jumpstart our security center, I’m also thrilled to announce that we’ve acquired CyActive, a cybersecurity firm that specializes in technology that can predict how malware will develop. The acquisition of CyActive will bring great talent and immediately add “future-proof” technology to PayPal’s world-class security platform."

Heartland Payment Systems Collaborates with BitPay - BitPay Blog - "Now Heartland is referring their customers to BitPay’s payment platform. We are helping Heartland bring bitcoin payment technology to businesses and organizations that are interested in new payment methods."

Why We Started Abra - RRE Ventures - "To make digital currency useful to “cash consumers” digital currency should: be transferable to any phone number in the world, not represent exchange rate risk, be as private as real cash, have no costs for money transfer, and be fungible to real paper-cash at very low cost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Updates to Venmo Account Notifications - Venmo Blog - "Today, we wanted to share a few updates we’ve made to Venmo account notifications, as well as make you aware of some additional product updates we’ll be releasing soon."

GameStop Now Accepting Apple Pay in Stores - "GameStop is launching a nationwide rollout of Apple Pay, which transforms mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay to its more than 4,200 U.S. video game stores this month."

Citi to Launch Banking App for Apple Watch - “At Citi, we believe that banking should be simple and convenient, and we are constantly exploring advances in technology to help us deliver that kind of experience,” said Heather Cox, Chief Client Experience, Digital and Marketing Officer for Global Consumer Banking at Citi. “Apple Watch users will have access to all sorts of information and services, and if our customers want to check their balance or view a seconds-ago transaction right on their wrist, it is our job to make sure they can.”

TGI Fridays Extends Use of Verifone’s Payment as a Service for ‘Pay at the Table’ - We pride ourselves on giving guests the best experience possible, particularly when interacting with our team,” said Jeremy Dunderdale, Head of IT at TGI Fridays UK. “Verifone understands our business needs, and its NFC-capable terminals combined with Verifone’s all-in-one service package provides a secure solution that solves our payments challenges while enabling us to accept payments from guests right at the table.”

JetPay Helps WePay Launch in Canada - Bill Clerico, chief executive officer of WePay stated: “When we decided to expand internationally, Canada was the first market we wanted to support outside the U.S., and JetPay had the ability to help us get there quickly and successfully.”

Streamlining the Lowly Wallet in a Digital Age - New York Times - "Since 2011, hundreds of wallet projects have successfully found backing on Kickstarter. They include wallets made out of titanium, carbon fiber, fire hose canvas, recycled bicycle tubes..."

Early Warning Launches Proactive Solution to Combat Tax Refund Fraud - "The biggest challenges tax agencies face in fighting tax refund fraud are resource issues and reliable technology needed to spot fraud," said David Barnhardt, Early Warning's vice president of Product Management. "However, the AOA for Government solution suite helps tax agencies quickly determine if a tax refund is legitimate, therefore preventing the issuance of refunds to identity thieves and fraudsters.”

Mozido Extends Reach into Great China Through Acquisition of PayEase Corp - “China is an important geography in Mozido’s mission of providing the world with easy and accessible mobile financial services, and the addition of PayEase Corp positions Mozido as the leading U.S. financial services provider to have operations inside of China,” said Michael Liberty, Mozido founder and Chairman of Global Strategic Initiatives.

Visa Showcases Connected Commerce at Mobile World Congress 2015 - "At Mobile World Congress next month (March 2-5, Hall 6, stand D40) in Barcelona, Spain, Visa will unveil its latest mobile payment services and demonstrate how a world connected by commerce – far beyond just phones and tablets – is transforming the way people shop, pay and get paid."

The future of Visa and other card schemes - Financial Services Club Blog - "Someone asked me yesterday: what do you think will happen to the card schemes in the future? I hadn’t thought about it much lately, but suddenly realised that the card schemes face a real melting pot of change."

On the Wires:

First Data and Capgemini Form Global Alliance to Deliver Next Generation Payment Solutions - "Never before in the history of financial services has the speed of change been faster, and competition for customers more fierce," said Guy Chiarello, president of First Data. "Our singular focus is helping our clients grow their businesses, and this important global alliance with Capgemini helps deliver on that commitment by enabling our clients to navigate an evolving global marketplace with our optimal solutions and deployment expertise."

Intuit Urges Industry to Join Fight to Combat Tax Fraud - "Intuit consistently invests in leading-edge technology, world-class technologists and pioneering products that help prevent, detect and respond to suspicious and fraudulent data activity. The company today announced plans to acquire Porticor, a leader in cloud-based security, headquartered in Israel."

Egyptian Government, MasterCard sign MoU to Drive Financial Inclusion - Ajay Banga, Chief Executive Officer, MasterCard said: “This partnership highlights our commitment to Egypt and its people. It’s crucial for us to join forces with governments around the world to accelerate positive change for citizens. We have a long and rich history in Egypt, and we are excited about the opportunity to provide more Egyptians with access to financial services.”

Wells Fargo Survey: Small Business Optimism Highest in Seven Years - “The overall Index score speaks to the general improvements that many small businesses experienced in 2014,” said Lisa Stevens, Wells Fargo head of Small Business “With the economy improving every day, many business owners are seeing stronger revenues and are feeling a renewed sense of confidence and expecting an even better year ahead.”

EBay Announces Job Cuts, Icahn Pact - Wall St. Journal - "EBay Inc. announced plans to cut about 2,400 jobs, or about 7% of its workforce, as the e-commerce giant prepares to spin off its PayPal electronic-payments business later this year from marketplace."

The 3Ps of the blockchain: platforms, programs and protocols - O'Reilly Radar - "Although it may be early to baptize new buzz lingo like “Blockchain as a Service” (BaaS) or “Blockchain as a Platform” (BaaP), there is a burgeoning landscape of various implementations and activity in and around the blockchain’s decentralized consensus protocol technologies."

Walmart offering cash pickup option for tax refunds - Chain Store Age - "In its newest move to offer more in-store financial services, Walmart is offering shoppers the option to pick up their tax refunds in cash. The new service, called Walmart Direct2Cash, is available nationwide starting Jan. 20."

Intuit Buys ZeroPaper, Its First Acquisition In Brazil - TechCrunch - "We are thrilled to work with ZeroPaper to reach small businesses, many just getting started and others, more established and larger businesses in need of the robust solutions in the QuickBooks Ecosystem, Dan Wernikoff, SVP & GM of the Small Business Group.

Synchrony Financial Partners with GPShopper on Mobile Customer Engagement Platform - "The investment enables Synchrony Financial, a premier consumer financial services company with 80 years of retail heritage, to complement its proprietary mobile offerings, which currently include account acquisition, management and reward redemption. An expanded suite of solutions for retailers will integrate credit more easily into the shopping experience with personalized offers, mobile payment capabilities, loyalty programs and other key features."

BillMatrix Payments from Fiserv Enables Visa Card Payments for Con Edison Customers - “Our customers value convenience and choice, and with BillMatrix Payments from Fiserv, we are able to deliver more of the payment options our customers want,” said Joe Duggan, a manager in Con Edison’s Strategic Applications Department. “The addition of Visa-branded cards as a payment option has been particularly well-received by our customers.”

Toward Better Privacy, Data Breach Laws - Krebs on Security - "President Obama on Monday outlined a proposal that would require companies to inform their customers of a data breach within 30 days of discovering their information has been hacked. But depending on what is put in and left out of any implementing legislation, the effort could well lead to more voluminous but less useful disclosure."

Gujarat State Government and MasterCard sign Memorandum of Understanding to Accelerate Electronic Payments - “This MOU represents a joint effort to drive innovation and development of electronic payments in Gujarat, in line with the State Government’s goal to make Gujarat the first digital payments state in India. MasterCard will leverage its global expertise to deliver new innovations and the right payment systems, and we are looking forward to seeing fruitful results from this collaboration,” said Ari Sarker, Division President, South Asia & Country Corporate Officer, India at MasterCard.

First Data and UL Collaborate to Simplify EMV™ Adoption for Retailers - “Coupled with a multi-layered security program that includes tokens and encryption, EMV adoption will greatly reduce the threat of fraudulent payments at the point of sale, but the implementation can be complex and burdensome. We believe this collaboration with UL will help to simplify the process a merchant must complete to certify compliance with EMV standards.”

Elavon Joins Verizon Partner Program - “This powerful combination makes the era of Big Data accessible and relevant for small businesses,” said Elavon’s President of North America Guy Harris. “By building in robust customer loyalty and security features more commonly found in high-end POS options, this user-friendly solution enables SMBs to serve their customers better while providing business insights to help them compete more effectively.”

Intuit Launches QuickBooks Online Self-Employed to Serve Freelancers, Independent Contractors - “As the on-demand economy continues to expand, there will be unprecedented income opportunities for freelancers. But this work comes with a host of new challenges: co-mingled and confusing business expenses, quarterly and year-end tax headaches, and a general lack of visibility into their ‘real income’,” said Alex Chriss, vice president and general manager of Self-Employed Solutions at Intuit.

TSYS Releases Insights on Payment Preferences of Business Travelers and Travel Administrators - “One surprising finding is that despite high satisfaction with corporate travel card programs among both business travelers and travel administrators, personal card usage among business travelers remains high,” said author Christina Hall, senior product development manager, TSYS Commercial Services. “Additionally, the technologies that business travelers use in their personal banking and credit card relationships greatly influence expectations for their corporate credit cards.”

Fitch: AmEx, Discover Can Manage EU Card Interchange Fee Caps - "Fitch believes increased regulation could have some unintended consequences. For example, card members could face higher fees and/or reduced benefits as banks re-assess these programs and seek to maintain appropriate profitability targets. Fitch believes these could potentially take the form of annual membership fees, account maintenance or other fees and/or more limited rewards."

Making Payments Easier for Creators and Backers - KickStarter Blog - "Today we’re excited to announce a seemingly small change that will actually make it a lot easier to use Kickstarter: We’re partnering with Stripe to seamlessly collect and process payments for all projects on Kickstarter."

LoopPay" Expands OEM Partnerships at CES 2015 - "The two new OEM partners announced at CES include XPAL Power (subsidiary of TennRich International - who manufactures products for companies like Mophie and Belkin), and Trident Case®, a leading ruggedized phone case manufacturer, with many other partners in the pipeline. LoopPay is also working with chipmakers to embed LoopPay’s technology and security into silicon, making it easier for future OEM partners to incorporate LoopPay into their devices."

Last week, on New Year's Day 2015, we lost our long-time friend and Glenbrook colleague Dennis Moser. Our tributes to Dennis are included here - if you knew and worked with Dennis, we'd welcome you adding your own memories of him.

On the Web:

Why New Credit Cards May Fall Short on Fraud Control - Wall St. Journal - "Big U.S. banks are steering clear of an advanced security measure used in credit cards around the world, opting for a system that is more convenient for shoppers but may leave them vulnerable to fraud."

Making Change: Mobile Pay in Africa - Wall St. Journal - "Across Kenya, mobile money is breathing life into micro business. Companies whose business models are based on mobile payments have shown how targeting some of the world’s poorest customers can not only pay but also be a promising way to grow."

A Day with Apple Pay - New York Times - "Over all, though, my day of shopping showed that retailers and their cashiers have room for improvement when it comes to accepting and understanding mobile payments."

No credit - Dr. Drang's Blog - "Tomorrow, I’ll start using my fifth credit card in the past 12 months. ... I’m not the only one who’s fed up with continually changing the credit card number on file with the companies I do business with."

On the Wires:

Progreso Financiero Soon to be Known as Oportun - "For over 8 years, our approach to lending has spearheaded the field of responsible, affordable and sustainable finance for the underserved. As we continue our mission, we want a name that builds on our customers’ perception of our company and what we do for them, and we wanted the name to be short and memorable. Oportun is based on the word Oportunidad, the Spanish word for Opportunity,” said Raul Vazquez, CEO of Progreso Financiero.

Regulation, the Blockchain and Programmable Money - PaymentsViews.com (George Peabody) - "Programmability of asset transfers has enormous potential to save money and simplify public and private transactions. A hallmark of any regulation should be its ability to accommodate that kind of innovation."

Stripe is the breakthrough startup of 2014 - Mashable - "Stripe is a key reason that some of these on-demand startups have been able to get off the ground so quickly — and Stripe has prospered in return. Tens of thousands of businesses now use the Stripe API for payments."

Toward a Breach Canary for Data Brokers - Krebs on Security - "Despite their apparent role in facilitating (albeit unknowingly) these ID theft services, to my knowledge the data brokers involved have never been held publicly accountable in any court of law or by Congress."

EMVCo Launches ‘A Guide to EMV Chip Technology v2.0’ - EMVco - "First published in 2011, the guide has been updated to reflect EMVCo’s new branding and imagery, detail the evolution of the technical body and communicate the latest transaction figures, first published in November 2014. The document also provides insight into the latest EMV Chip Specifications and introduces EMVCo’s Next Generation activity."

Investment in European Payment Firms Hits Record Levels - Wall St. Journal - "Nascent payments and transaction processing companies in Europe raised $417.9 million through 26 deals in the nine months to September, more than seven times what was raised during the same period last year, according to figures from data provider Dow Jones VentureSource."

Banks Urge Clients to Take Cash Elsewhere - Wall St. Journal - "J.P. Morgan told some clients of its commercial bank recently that it would begin charging monthly fees on deposit accounts from which clients can withdraw money at any time."

Why Apple Pay will win (Part 2) - Financial Services Club Blog (Chris Skinner) - "The Apple Pay wallet system, with its own bank partner (if it needs one) and now you don’t need a card registered or anything. You don’t need PayPal or Visa or MasterCard. You just need Apple. Just a thought."

Wish List: Apple Pay your friends - SixColors (Dan Moren) - "In theory, Apple could even offer the ability to send funds to people via the Internet. Apple Pay already works for some online transactions, and once again Square Cash has proved that you can transfer funds online without too much hassle."

MasterCard and Dynamics Inc. Partner to Drive Innovation within Interactive Payment Card Market - “At MasterCard, we are focused on driving innovation across the entire payments industry, and continue to invest in the technologies, solutions and companies that will help our customers and partners expand their business and serve their cardholders in new ways,” said Carlos Menendez, Group Executive, Global Credit and Debit Products at MasterCard. “In working with Dynamics, we have secured a partner with deep technology capabilities and market-leading manufacturing capabilities to help drive innovation in the interactive payment card market while moving in lockstep with MasterCard’s mobile and digital enablement strategy.”

SWIFT enters into real-time retail domestic payments - "On 2nd December, Australia's New Payments Platform (NPP) Steering Committee announced it has selected SWIFT to provide the infrastructure for its New Payments Platform (NPP) project, a new Australian fast payments infrastructure."

BitPay Integrates With DriveWealth to Bring Bitcoin to Investors Worldwide - “Providing users with the added security of bitcoin as a payment method makes the whole process easier, and gives users peace of mind,” says Tony Gallippi, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of BitPay. “With Bitcoin, users will no longer have to wait days or weeks for an account to be funded because this integration will make their deposit process seamless.”

Fiserv Names Marc West Division President, Digital Channels - "Before joining Fiserv in 2013, West was the president and CEO at Mamasource, an e-commerce platform focused on moms, where he focused on business growth and strategic partnerships. He has also served as managing director of e-Business at Barclays Global Investors, and has held senior leadership positions at H&R Block and Electronic Arts."

The last Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp of 2014 is being held next week, December 9 and 10, in Palo Alto, California. Our Payments Boot Camp provides a comprehensive introduction to the payments systems in the U.S., an overview of global payments, and lots of insights into what's happening in emerging payments. Join Carol Coye Benson and me for this final session of the year! - register here!

Does EMV guarantee electronic transaction security? - Ingenico Blog - "The reality is that there is no single solution today that meets the security requirements of every card-present, card-not-present, attended, unattended, quick service, fine dining, and other electronic payment environment."

How HelloBit Plans to Become the Uber for Global Remittance - CoinDesk - "Instead of creating infrastructure that enables global bitcoin payments, HelloBit has built a consumer app that will connect bitcoin senders to local exchangers. Users can connect with these exchangers, be they individuals or businesses, and receive payments in local currency."

Bluetooth 4.2 Core Specifications Finalized - Anandtech - "The Bluetooth specifications have an advantage though in that they will not necessarily require new hardware. Many of these features can be added via software updates because the existing radio technology is not changing."

On the Wires:

ETA Announces 2015 Board of Directors - “I am thrilled to be leading ETA during such a transformative time in our industry,” said Debra Rossi, Executive Vice President of Wells Fargo and Company and ETA’s 2015 Board President. “I look forward to working with my fellow Board Members to build upon ETA’s continued momentum and success.”

Elavon and Bank of the West Extend 21-Year Marketing Alliance - "Under the terms, the bank’s existing and new merchant customers can take advantage of innovative, simple and secure payment solutions, including credit and debit card acceptance, enhanced reporting, a comprehensive security program, and gift card and loyalty solutions."

The last Glenbrook Payments Boot Camp of 2014 is being held next week, December 9 and 10, in Palo Alto, California. Our Payments Boot Camp provides a comprehensive introduction to the payments systems in the U.S., an overview of global payments, and lots of insights into what's happening in emerging payments. Join Carol Coye Benson and me for this final session of the year! - register here!

Mobile Wallets: A Smart Way to Pay? - Kiplinger - "Using your smartphone to store your credit card and bank information is convenient and secure, but don’t leave your wallet at home just yet."

Apple Pay from the Front Lines - GonzoBanker - "After using my iPhone for less than a month to make about a dozen payments, I’ve actually started to unintentionally reach for my phone instead of my wallet when it’s time to pay for something. Yikes."

With Fraud Afoot, Shield Your Wallet - New York Times - "That is why it’s a good idea to use a credit card when shopping online, or if you must use a debit card, use it in conjunction with something like PayPal..."

Preparing for Chip-and-PIN Cards in the United States - New York Times - "In total, roughly 70 percent of credit cards and 40 percent of debit cards are expected to use the technology by the end of next year, though the introduction of upgraded checkout systems will not be completed until the end of the decade."

Taking One Touch™ Mobile Payments International - Braintree Blog - "Today, in an effort to help people and businesses connect more seamlessly, reduce friction from buying on mobile and support innovation globally, we’re rolling out One Touch with PayPal in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK."

Why Apple Pay may be the gateway drug bitcoin needs - Gigaom - "Most consumers don’t understand the technology that is transferring the USD in their iPhone to the Walgreens, so if that was replaced with bitcoin’s blockchain technology, one may not notice."

Amadeus and Worldpay partnership further simplifies travel payments - Celia Pereiro, Head of Travel Payments at Amadeus commented: “We are pleased to partner with one of Europe’s largest payment services providers. Worldpay will help us to fulfil our customers’ payment needs across the globe through a simple payment experience offered to their travellers."

MasterCard Takes Priceless Surprises To New Heights - “Today’s surprise is just one way we’re taking our Priceless Surprises platform to a whole new level by bringing in new partners and delivering surprises through new platforms to drive cardholder affinity,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing officer, MasterCard.